Gore daughter speaks on voting

She may become the first daughter of the United States, but to do that her father will need the support of the youth of America. And she's doing her best to help him get it. Karenna Gore Schiff, daughter of Vice President Al Gore, spoke to a small crowd of students last night at Houston Hall. "To be honest, I already know who I'm going to vote for," the 27-year-old said, receiving laughter from the crowd of mainly Gore supporters. Schiff, the eldest of Gore's four children and one of his closest advisors, has been touring the country in an effort to get 18-to-25-year-olds into the voting booth. But amid the laughter, the event carried a somber warning. "This is an election that for young people we really do have to take seriously," Sharif Street, son of Philadelphia Mayor John Street, said in introducing Schiff. Street, along with Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Michael Bassik, is co-chair of GoreNet, the Democratic campaign's outreach to young voters. After warming up the crowd, Street, a Penn Law grad, turned the mic over to Schiff, a recent Columbia Law School graduate. "The pundits have written us off as a generation too self-involved to be bothered with public life," Schiff informed the 250-person crowd. "Those charges simply don't hold water." She pointed to areas of increased political involvement among youth to refute those charges. "We volunteer and join organizations more than the famously idealistic boomers did," Schiff said. "We are passionate about this country." Evidence of that passion, she inferred, can be seen in the number of Penn students who have registered to vote. Schiff's talk was the culmination of the UA's weeklong voter awareness week during which about 700 students were registered in four days. Schiff was campaigning for dad and, not unexpectedly, she concentrated on the issues of Medicare and Social Security when bringing up issues of concern to students. In a resurrection of Tuesday night's presidential debate with a new twist, Schiff pointed to unique harms that the generation in attendance should be aware of. "If Medicare runs out, it will be on us," she said. But Schiff also talked about campaign finance reform and abortion. "We need serious campaign finance reform to ensure that our democracy is pure and fair," Schiff said, followed by rounding applause. "If we wake up to find that abortion is a crime in this country once more, it will be younger women who pay the price," Schiff said in criticism of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Gore's opponent. But for all of the issues Schiff addressed, from education to healthcare, there are some who feel that neither the Gore or Bush campaigns are doing much for the sake of young voters. "When watching the debates, you go away with this impression that the majority of Americans are 65 or older," Alison Byrne Fields, creative director and Chief strategist of Rock the Vote said from her office in California. "That wasn't my impression," Schiff said in an interview after her talk. "I felt that [my dad's] vision as he laid it out completely spoke to me as a young woman." After finishing in Houston Hall, Schiff went on to Mad 4 Mex to watch her father's running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, in his debate with Republican Vice Presidential contender Dick Cheney. Wharton junior Aubrey Wise, one of the few students to have received an invitation to join Schiff at the popular restaurant, thought Schiff's talk went well. "She gave a great speech," he said. "Like her father, she's a great politician." College junior Evelyn Dean agreed. "She is such an asset to her father because she is so genuinely enthusiastic. You can just see the passion in her eyes." But not all students received what they had hoped to. "I want to see where Gore stands on arts funding," College junior Catherine Wise said. Of all that was talked about, arts funding was never addressed. But all was not lost on Wise. "I already voted for [Gore] by absentee ballot," the Virginia native said.

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